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5:56pm: Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said there were "internal repercussions" for White's absences, Feigen tweets, presumably referring to his absences from the Rockets' game last night and practices yesterday and today. "If he doesn’t work out, well, it’s tough to lose a draft choice," Alexander said, according to Feigen (Twitter link).

5:32pm: A day after reports that he would be sent to the Rockets' D-League affiliate, Royce White is "not available" to the Rockets, the team announced via press release. "We are committed to his long term success and we will continue to support him now and going forward," the release stated. The brief release doesn't state whether White's absence from Monday's practice and game against the Heat was excused or related to his D-League assignment, notes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). White was also not present at Rockets practice Tuesday, tweets Mark Berman of Fox 26.

White missed the first week of training camp while negotiating a travel plan that would allow him to bus to some of the team's games, since White has a fear of flying. The rookie forward has yet to make his regular season debut, though he saw action in four preseason games, averaging 2.3 points in 12.3 minutes per contest. The Rockets selected him with the 16th overall pick this past June.

Last night's report had White going to the Rockets' D-League affiliate along with teammates Donatas Motiejunas and Scott Machado, though the Rockets have yet to officially announce the assignments. It is believed the maximum number of its players a team can have in the D-League at a time is two. It's unclear if that's related to White's situation or whether the rule has changed.

Not a Rockets fan but this kid actually scares me. I feel like he is going crazy (mentally). I really do think he needs help.

9:41pm: White says via Twitter that he's "most definitely not AWOL" and that his problem with the Rockets goes back long before the D-League assignment (Twitter links; hat tip to Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld).

8:32pm: White released a statement criticizing the team's handling of his anxiety. According to TNT's David Aldridge, he said the team has been "inconsistent" in sticking to their agreement to accomodate his disorders, and says the lack of support will make him unhealthy, "and that is not a consequence that I am willing to accept to play any sport" (Twitter*links). Mark Berman of Fox 26 recounted the statement via a lengthy*Twitter*burst.*

"In hindsight, perhaps it was not a good idea to be open and honest about my anxiety disorder, due to the current*situations at hand that involve the nature of actions from the Houston Rockets," White said, adding that the team is aware of the reason for his absence.

I feel bad for the guy, I really do, but you have to treat this like an injury. He might need some time off to adjust to being a pro. But if he can't ever get on the court.....

I feel bad for the guy, I really do, but you have to treat this like an injury. He might need some time off to adjust to being a pro. But if he can't ever get on the court.....

Oh yes. I feel really bad for a guy making 2 millions a year who goes write stuff on twitter instead of go to practice. He haven't played a single game in the league and he isn't happy about the D-League? Because that's what it seems.

As a guy with a mental illness (social anxiety), I can relate to an extent. Obviously I'm not in the spotlight he is but that is the thing, many millions of people would kill to be in the top 2% of athletes in the world but this guy keeps making excuses and defending himself rather than using his God given gift to play basketball. I obviously have a soft spot for mental illnesses in me and I have defended this guy since day 1 but I honestly have had enough. Reading his twitter is making me cringe and I'm about done. To bad he can't be used as an "asset" because no team will want to touch him with a 10ft pole. You win some, you lose some I guess.

I also don't want to make light of a mental disorder of any kind. But if you offered me millions of dollars to play a game for a few years, I wouldn't mind if I wasn't 100 percent healthy. That's long term security for the rest of his life, and the dude can get a lot of help with that kind of cash.

But aside from the anxiety issues, I'm just getting sick of the way he's handling it. You don't just not show up for practice and bring all of your concerns to the media rather than handling them internally. And if you honestly have this much of a problem with your anxiety less than a month into the season, you shouldn't have entered the NBA draft in the first place.

It's one thing for a first round pick to bust because he just didn't have the skills or he couldn't handle the NBA level of talent. It's another thing for the player to bust because he refuses to show up for practice and talks **** about the team paying him millions of dollars to the media.